Lake Erie 2, Alene 0: National Championships at North Coast 24 Hour Fall 2014

North Coast 24 is one of those races with a character of its own.

It's subtle, but there’s a unique understated charm. It's well-organized, and has a definite following of locals, and it has a way of growing on you, even on this westerner at heart who loves mountains and small cities, not big urban messes with sketchy downtowns and crowds of people.

Being in downtown Cleveland might as well be another country or planet to me. One of my former patients used to work in law enforcement and warned me before my first trip to Cleveland, “When you're in Cleveland, just shoot, and walk away."

It's hard to find your way around downtown in a modernized but also partially decaying cityscape where the streets don't make any sense. To visit the downtown areas shops and restaurants you have to park first. In between lightposts, trash cans, fire hydrants, there are very few scattered parking meters which force you to find parking garages, the entrances to which are inhabited by panhandlers.

And then trying to get out of the parking garage is another adventure. We thought we were going to witness a crime scene there when an impatient driver in front of us was getting pissed off at the first car in line. The guy just lifted the barricade up and out of his way instead of paying for parking.

I ran here in spring of 2013 and at the time I didn’t think I’d come back. Not that there was anything wrong with the race, it was just that I couldn’t see traveling all that way when I could find something closer to home. But then it was announced that the 24 hour national championships would be there, and I wanted not only a competitive race, but a chance to hit my 120 mile goal.

I missed last year’s nationals due to a hamstring injury, but it also happened to fall about three weeks before I quit my job, so I was about as stressed as I’ve ever been and wouldn’t have been a good time to race anyway.

The thing about North Coast 24 Hour is that it’s next to fickle Lake Erie with crazy weather and wind. Talking with Joe Fejes earlier this year about races, he advised me to seek a fast race or a track for my 120 mile goal, because he felt North Coast was a difficult venue, and the weather was unpredictable.

I knew about the weather from my first experience there, but I usually can do well in the heat and I figured that might be the thing that made it hard in the fall, and maybe rain. I am not used to running in humidity, but I’ve done well in it before, so I wasn’t concerned as much about the weather as maybe I should have been.

I thought being in a competitive race would be good, and it was. I learned a lot watching the other runners, and learned a lot about my own racing style and preparation. It was more like feedback this time. I feel like I’ve got it down really well.

But Saturday September 20th was not the day I hoped for, and the same could be said for most of the other runners there. All week Saturday’s weather forecast looked hot, sandwiched in between milder days. It never budged. Thunderstorms were predicted for Saturday night and Sunday.

The weather forecast turned out to be very accurate except the temperatures got even higher than predicted. At one point someone said it was 85 degrees. I saw 81 on my phone when I checked it around 5 pm.

I've been to this race twice now and both times the weather got me good. Now I understand why Joe felt it was difficult. It’s not that the course is hard by itself, the weather is a contributing factor, but it’s what goes on in the park all day that makes it difficult.

I say this not as a criticism of the race itself, but just as far as practicality for running optimally. I think Joe meant there is an advantage of having a controlled venue like a track where people are only there for the race. And also there is something to having a race with fewer distractions, as there are lots of things going on all over in a busy urban park like Edgewater.

Between people often walking three abreast and the random pedestrians, kids, bicycles, kite flyers, smokers, large groups (and I hate to say it but large people like the guy in the shirt, and even bigger), it got quite crazy and chaotic around mid-afternoon and it was very difficult to stay on the inside throughout much of the loop. Especially the half that goes alongside the water.

I would say there was a lot of extra distance covered on that course due to the amount of passing people. The area where we all had our tents and tables set up was almost impassable at times during the afternoon.

The lower corner just before you take a curve to the right to cross the mat and pass the aid station was challenging at times as pedestrians seemed to have no idea that they were crossing our direct path.

It took a lot of energy, both mental and physical, to get around the people, who of course had no idea they were hindering our progress, and it’s not their fault either. We were the invaders, we were the crazy zombies who took over their park.

Not that it was all bad. I had a lot of fun. Despite the poor conditions for running I enjoyed it. It was entertaining, too. There was the “Kale Yes I’m Vegan” guy, that’s what his tank top said, who spent the entire day and part of the evening jumping rope and working out in the east corner of the park with some sort of gas mask on.

And it was a beautiful scene next to the water, a clear fall afternoon with kites flying, people out enjoying it, weddings, nuns walking, people grilling with their families, a mix of people watching, but also very distracting. I don’t think I would have been as distracted if I was running better. I would have been concentrating on my stride and forward progress and not looking at the scenery as much.

I think that was my last trip to this race. It is such a well-run event though, it's too bad. But to be realistic, I live too far away, it's an expensive trip, and it just hasn't panned out for me. I don't have a lot of time, I’m getting older and I want to get my goal. So I will move on to somewhere else. Not sure where that will be yet, but I’ll find it.

What Happened

Beth McCurdy and I met each other at the keys 100 in 2010. She’s from the Atlanta area. Then we ran together again at NorthCoast in 2013 in the horrible wind snowstorm. This time we decided to share a room to help with costs in Cleveland. It was a good match even though I usually like to have my own space. Beth understood all my quirks and it turns out we both have interesting quirks before races, we share many of the same obsessions, preferences, and weird habits pre-race. So it worked out well. Compatible weirdness.

I flew into Columbus again this trip, it's an easier airport, better flights and less expensive from Denver, plus my friends Lynn and Suzy Newton live there. I stayed with them for 2 nights before the race. I’ve known Lynn through running since about 1997. I know their daughter, too, the three of them used to attend Lynn’s races in Arizona such as Across the Years. Lynn decided to run North Coast this year, too.

I always sleep well at their house, I had plenty of sleep hours and good food in the tank by the time I left for Cleveland Friday morning. I drove to Cleveland to meet Beth at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn. On my way into town I stopped at Whole Foods and did our shopping, Beth gave me a list of what she wanted.

Neither of us wanted to attend the prerace dinner as we are both not into expending a lot of energy and socializing the night before the race. We found a good restaurant in Lakewood that has pasta and salads and ate there for our prerace meal then holed up in our hotel room to relax and prepare for morning.

Bill Damman offered to help us. Poor guy, I don't think he knew what he was getting into. But he was very generous to help us with our gear before and after, brought us ice during the heat of the day, and checked on us. He covered our gear before the downpour, and set up a tent for us to change in or sleep in if needed.

Neither of us slept well the night before in the hotel, but I wasn't worried because I had so much sleep at Lynn's I knew I'd be okay. I got maybe 5 hours, but I had plenty of crack gels- the chocolate cherry Clif shots and drinks with caffeine if needed.

We got to the start and got stuff set up and everyone was saying hi as we got ready. I had to organize my table. I saw quite a few runners I know and met a few new people. Beth knows everyone. We got set up next to a tent that said Virginia Tech Hokies. Wheaties Boy territory. I sent him a picture and took it as a good sign.

It was already quite warm. I knew we'd need the ice from Bill. I had my plan at a very conservative pace. I realized I might have to slow even more for the first half, and I was prepared to do it.

Soon it was time to line up at the start. There were about 170 entrants, so it was pretty crowded. They start you a little before the aid tent and finish line because of the course measurement, so you get to 100 miles on the finish line mat instead of some random place.

Then we were off.

I started out according to my plan, at a relaxed pace, talking to a few runners and then doing most of my laps in silence. I needed to get a feel for how my body wanted to run in the conditions. It felt easy and I immediately stuck to my planned run/walk pattern. I got through the first 20 miles or so at exactly my planned pace and I knew that I would have to slow down to get through the afternoon, so I did that.

I started putting ice on my neck sometime after noon. A lot of people were feeling the heat, there were already people running with ice packs on and talking with their crews about hydration and electrolytes. I knew by the time I got to about 35 miles that it was not going to be the day for performances. I accepted that and knew I still had a chance to run faster after dark. Pretty much everyone I talked with was saying the same thing, we were all just waiting for dark. It was a survival race.

It was a bloodbath out there though. So many runners quit early. In the afternoon I saw quite a few suffering in the heat. People who were flying and leading early in the race one by one started to drop. I felt pretty comfortable with the pace in the heat, but I backed off early. Harvey Lewis was moving well in the men's race along with several other guys, and in the women's race it seemed like there were a lot who dropped. I'm not sure.

I was there to run my own race, not worry about what they were doing. Debra Horn was there and she was running very well, but she wasn't going blazing fast. She seemed to be running smart. Beth looked good early on but we run differently, she likes to run and I do the run/walk thing. I lost track of her for quite a while.

Some of the older runners were amazing though. Those of us in the USATF national championship race had our age groups on bibs on our backs, and there were some 70+ year olds out there who did not in any way look their age. They were moving well too. The two women I saw in the 65-69 age group looked great, too.

I went through 50 miles in about 10:25 which is a lot slower than usual, but it was necessary. I have no idea where I was at 100K because after 50 miles I stopped paying attention to splits and just focused on moving forward and staying cool. I ate a couple of PBJs and then stuck to yogurt. My stomach was fine.

The afternoon was chaotic with masses of people in the park. I stopped for 10 minutes and got into Bill’s tent to change into evening clothes. My legs were surprisingly fresh. I’d been well-hydrated, peeing hourly, and I didn’t have any muscle cramping when I had to crouch into the small tent to change clothes.

I got back out on the course, but it hadn’t cooled down. The park was still full of people at sunset, it was beautiful though. There was this group of people facing east and doing their Muslim evening prayer, and the seagulls were circling around overhead, along the waterfront, and it was such a calm scene despite having so much going on out there.

As it got darker, it was still too warm to need any extra clothing. I could feel a blister in the usual spot under my left foot, the ball of my foot, the same spot that got me at Badwater. I looked at it when I was in the tent and it just looked like a friction spot. I changed socks but didn’t do anything else to it. In retrospect maybe that’s when I should have broken out an Engo patch or something, but it was not bothering me running.

As the evening went on, it stayed at about 75 degrees. I no longer needed ice but it was not comfortable for picking up the pace. The blister was there but I decided to keep going since it wasn’t affecting my gait. It always took about the first 24 hours for it to be a problem at Badwater so my thinking was, I should be fine to make it through morning. But I’d been walking a lot more than I anticipated due to the heat, and I think that made it worse. When I ran, it was starting to hurt more, especially on the little downhill section going into the aid station.

Sometime around midnight I passed Andy Lovy, the race physician, who told me to be prepared as they were expecting a storm to move in with heavy rain somewhere around 2 am. When I went through the aid station, Bill was working in there so I asked him if he would cover Beth’s gear. When I went by our table I had a garbage bag ready to go so I could cover my stuff, but I didn’t know if she had anything, and I thought she was in the tent sleeping. She’d been having nausea earlier and decided to lie down in the tent and take a break.

The wind started to pick up and I grabbed my rain hat and jacket when I started to feel drops. I continued moving, but it only rained lightly. It did cool things down a little. Eventually I started to notice my groin and hamstring on the left side were getting tight. The blister had been hurting, and it was affecting my gait, which is what I wanted to avoid. I decided to stop by the medical tent to see if the foot care people could help me. I had my own foot care stuff but it was raining and dark, and I thought I’d see if I could avoid digging around out there.

When I went in there were about 4 people who appeared to be students, they all converged on me at once. I told them about my foot and they had me fill out the form, just like Badwater. No problem. I did warn them that I am a nurse and a pain in the butt. I took off my shoe and sock, and a woman who said she was the doctor came over and looked at it. It was the start of a deep blister under that same spot that hasn’t caused me any problems ever since Badwater in 2011. Back to haunt me.

Then she asked me some questions, turns out I’m allergic to the supplies they had available to pad my foot, and they were unwilling to try popping the blister. John Vonhof would have jabbed it with a scalpel. I was a little annoyed but it really is the runner’s responsibility to take care of their own feet. I had all the supplies I needed at my table, so I told them I was going to go and work on it myself.

I know I probably sounded like a bitch but I warned them. I guess what irritated me was that if they didn’t feel comfortable doing what I knew needed to be done, that was fine, I just wanted them to not take so long to make a decision, it seemed like they spent a lot of time making me wait and I’m not sure what for. But then I have little patience with anything these days.

Anyway I apologized to them as I left and thanked them, and went to my table and sat down in the dark. The rain had stopped, so I sat down in the wet chair and dug out my foot kit and my headlamp, and went to work. The blister didn’t have much fluid in it, but it hurt. I tried poking one area with fluid and got very little out. I taped over it and pulled some hypafix up and over the space between my toes, hoping that if it did eventually pop, it would drain.

I got back out on the course, and Beth got up at some point and we ran together for a short time. She was up and down, she’d feel okay for a while and then awful again. I was fine but now I couldn’t run or walk very well either. The blister really hadn’t improved from draining the few drops of fluid I got out. Walking became more painful and around 4 am, the sky opened up with a fury. It was a steady downpour and puddles were forming everywhere, some parts of the course had sand that washed over them, and I was barely moving. I got my rain jacket again, which I had ditched when it never turned to steady rain earlier.

With each lap as I went across the mat and saw the results on the screen, it seemed like it was taking forever to accumulate miles. I was only at 78 or so. Earlier in the night I realized that 100 might be a good thing to focus on, but by the time the rain really started, I knew I was doomed, and it was getting ridiculous.

In the middle of the serious downpour, I was headed east along the lake and realized I was going at Andy’s pace. (He’s about 30 years older than me) . I caught up to him, and we walked together in the rain. We could see the portapotties in the distance and I pointed them out as my goal. I said, when we get there, I’m hiding inside to get out of the rain. He said I might do the same, and told me that it would take about 4 minutes to get there from where we were. We giggled as we headed toward our goal.

There we were, in a raging rainstorm, along Lake Erie with the wind blowing in the dark, at 4:30 am, planning to hide out in the portapotties. I asked him what that says about our sanity. He would know, he was a psychiatrist.

When we got to the portapotties I got inside and stood there for a while. I had my phone with me, which I had used to text Wheaties Boy when things started getting ugly. I snapped a selfie in there, standing there, seriously questioning my sanity. I decided that I was done. I got out and limped the rest of the loop back to the mats and aid station. When I crossed the mat it said 80.2 miles. That’s where I was done. I was over it.

When I got there, Phil McCarthy and a few other runners were in there, doing the same thing I was. Lots of other people had left much earlier. I gave my chip to Dan, the race director, and talked with him for a while. He gave me my medal. I ate some hot food and sat down to talk with the others in there. Soon Beth walked in, looking drowned rat-like in her hoodie. She told me she was thinking about being done too. I didn’t want to influence her decision. I had warm clothes, I could stick around until morning if she wanted to finish.

She went out for another lap or two and then came back. She was done. She said she felt lightheaded like she had low blood sugar so I got her some M&Ms and she sat there for a few minutes. I went to the tent, where Bill was sleeping, and asked him if he could help us get our stuff back to the car. I drove the car closer and we loaded up and went back to the room, showered, and napped until about 10:30 am.

We didn’t sleep much all day, we did eat breakfast and then hung out around the room, talking. Later we went downtown and had a drink and ate. I tried a beer from Great Lakes Brewing Company. It was okay.

I was really glad Beth and I shared the room and stayed together because it made it a lot more fun, especially when our races didn’t go well. But in running the race this time, I realized something, that I did just fine with my body and almost everything was good. The only issue was the blister, and I did a good job of backing off on the pace. My body has plenty left, I was not sore or even very stiff.

I didn’t realize the callus had built up that much again, and running on asphalt in the heat and humidity despite being well hydrated, that is my bad spot on my foot. It got me. I had no issues when I ran on the track last spring in cooler conditions and more miles. So in a way this is good, once the blister heals the callus will peel away and I can start working on reducing it again.

But somehow this experience left me feeling even more confident that 120 miles or more is well within my capability. Things can go wrong in any race, weather can get you, or something else can happen. The faster you go and the more you push yourself, the more things that can happen, so you just need to hit the right one. It will happen, like Joe was telling me. Eventually you’ll hit the right one.

We slept Sunday night and then Monday morning Beth headed to the airport and I drove back to Columbus to return the rental car and catch my flight out. I spent a little time in Columbus before I had to go to the airport. I mailed my cooler back to myself with my laundry in it. Then I ate lunch and walked around as much as I could on my sore foot. On the drive back from Cleveland for some reason I felt very happy. I came to the realization that I had a lot of fun and the 120 goal will be there for me to pursue in 2015.

Then I was checking Facebook and I got this message from my friend Eddie in Boulder. He asked me about the 24 hours of Boulder race coming up in October. The one that I couldn’t do the last 4 years when I worked because it always fell on my work weekend.

For some reason I got excited about that. The thought of running around under the stars all night again sounded like exactly what I needed! I didn’t get to enjoy the night at North Coast the way I wanted to, so this would be my chance!

I might do it. I’ll let the blister heal, and then see how I’m feeling. I think it will be a go. Except I’m watching the weather and will wait to sign up until the last minute. I don’t want to run in any more downpours this year! I’m done with that!

In the Columbus airport there was a Jeni’s ice cream vending machine. I could not believe my eyes so I took a picture. I went to Jeni’s twice while I was there. That is the best ice cream ever.

I started my day at 7 am Eastern time, and didn’t get home until 11 pm Mountain time, so it was an 18 hour day of travel after the exhausting race. I was toast. The girls yelled at me, I had to shut the front door quickly so they wouldn’t wake up the whole neighborhood. Dennis was at a conference out of town so the house was quiet.

Lynn wrote me later to tell me I had won my age group. I guess that should be consolation, but I don’t feel consoled by that. Eighty miles is not the performance I wanted. I want to make my goal. I just need to find the right place on the right day. Lake Erie beat me out of my goals twice now, but I won't forget either of those two events. Definitely memorable. Thanks to the lake.

That’s all there is to it. I might think of some other things, but I don’t feel disappointed by the experience. It was valuable, even in its shortcomings. I have been doing this for nearly a quarter century and I still learn new things every time. I love this sport and I am so glad I’ve gotten a chance to enjoy it from so many different perspectives, competitively, recreationally, as adventure, from the race director, medical, staff, and volunteer perspectives, and now, as I’m getting older, to be able to come back to the competitive side again.

I can’t wait for next year!

The Best Advice and Support...

Just got back from the gazillionth walk around the neighborhood with Iris. It's my way of multitasking. I'm trying to walk it off in my recovery, and I've been needing to think. Walking is great for thinking.

It's thundering now, and sprinkling lightly. I wish we'd get some real rain out of these clouds. The backyard finally has color and looks like spring.

I'm definitely feeling it now, my legs are still sore and my feet and ankles are a little puffy, still. Sleep has been coming back slowly, but I don't know if I'll repay the sleep bank from naps anytime soon. That's okay, I'm sleeping 9 hours a night and that works well.

I've been getting things organized in my life and I need to get focused on work again this week, which I will, but for now I've been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on my race and what I want to do for the rest of the year.

Last night I had a great talk on the phone with Joe Fejes, we discussed my results from Cornbelt and how I could improve on efficiency, training, or strategy. I got some great ideas from him, and some suggestions, and it helped to state my thoughts to see what he thought.

I was totally pumped when I got off the phone with him. We had a pretty mellow conversation but it got me thinking about prioritizing things, what I want to accomplish, and for some reason, it made my brain kick in all at once. I was suddenly excited about all these different things at once. I went for another walk with Dennis and the girls after I talked with Joe, and I told Dennis what we talked about and what I was thinking.

Dennis helped me untangle the thoughts in my head and make sense out of my plans and goals. It's great to be able to talk nonsense and have someone interpret and straighten out your thoughts to help you make sense. Dennis understands my babble when it comes to running and knows how to weed out the garbage, which is so helpful. It's great to hear his perspective as someone who has been there, knows me, and knows what's realistic for me.

And I am so thankful to Joe for his guidance, we've only had a couple of conversations but they've been so helpful as I move forward in my pursuit of better performances. It helps to bounce your ideas and questions off another athlete. He was amazed when I told him how much I ate during Cornbelt. He gave me some great insight to what I'm doing regarding that. Plus he's been trying to work on some stomach issues, so I'm hoping that maybe what I told him about how I do it might help him in some of his longer events.

This morning I started digging around in travel plans. I have several trips coming up that are not related to racing, and I needed to start looking at those, and then I decided that it's time to sign up for NorthCoast 24 Hour, so I did that and made hotel reservations in Cleveland, found a screaming deal at a good hotel where I stayed last time, for about half the price I paid last time. That's always nice especially when it's the 24 hour event and you won't be using the room on the middle night, but keeping it anyway for convenience.

I'm very excited about the rest of the year. I plan to do a few marathons and half marathons this summer, nothing big, just for some good workouts and training runs. I was trying to find a 50 miler or 12 hour race in late July or early August but there were very few that were either the right terrain, dates, not conflicting with other travel plans, or reasonably affordable to get to. So I'll just stick to the shorter road races and focus on good quality training, and that will work just as well. Maybe even better.

It's weird to live in Colorado and say you can't find any ultras to run. There are a ton, but they are all on trails and up in the mountains. Am I the only road and track ultra person in Colorado? I know I can't be, but sometimes it feels like that. What, no one else in Colorado likes to run around in circles?

I made some airline reservations for our trip to LA this summer when we visit my parents at Manhattan Beach, and I made reservations in Spearfish for the Leading Ladies Marathon, which I will do in August. That's a fast one, and I really want it as a fitness test. I don't care about running a certain time, it's still a training run, but I am looking to make some progress toward being able to hold a certain pace in ultras, and this will be a great way to measure that.

I'll be going off to Badwater to work medical there in July, and I looked into the possibility of doing a marathon either before or after that trip but both marathons were cutting it too close and the travel arrangements were too complicated. So I opted to find something else, that doesn't conflict with having a relaxing and fun time around Badwater.

Wheaties Boy (Shannon Price) has been super encouraging about going for my goals. It's so important to have a buddy, someone who backs you up and supports you, even if they aren't there all the time, because we rarely run together, and for the next month I won't even be doing workouts with him. But even when we don't get to run together, in spirit, it's awesome support, and it helps so much to verbalize my goals and have someone to keep me honest, and even more, someone who believes in your vision as much as you do.

Between Dennis, Wheaties Boy, and Joe, I'm so thankful, so lucky they all have my back! Three incredible athletes, and great human beings. Thank you all.

Recipe for a Tailwind

This entire week so far has been nothing but WIND. Constant blowing and cold. We got a few sprinkles one day but no more moisture, just a steady howling with a few extra strong gusts, the kind that split trees in half, blow trash cans over, and generally make a run down any street lined with trees into Russian Roulette.

I went out anyway, just for a few miles each day, 4 or 6 miles at a time. It really wasn't that bad, even running into the headwind. Probably because I knew I'd be out there for such a short time. I've been following the forecasts for Iowa and it doesn't look much better there, actually worse because of rain, but it looks like this storm system is headed east, so I might have a strong tailwind blowing me across Nebraska. Could save money on gas that way.

I waited until tonight to run because the wind was super gusty today. Once the sun went down, the wind died down quite a bit and there was a sliver of a moon out, and there was still light in the sky until almost 8:30.

Iris has been following me around, every time I go to the bathroom she follows me and stares at me. Isabelle is more subtle about it but she's been watching me, too.

The bags are packed, reservations made, I have a plan for the race. I was talking with a running friend from Georgia the other day, Beth McCurdy, and we were laughing about last spring in Cleveland. She was telling me the story of when we were running North Coast in that heinous windstorm last year, and Beth decided to drop out and she told me, I said to her, "Oh, no! Why?" She tells people, "Because I'm not from freaking Colorado!"

Beth runs with Joe Fejes, and according to Joe, running a 24 hour is like baking a cake, following the recipe. I have my own recipe for this one and I think it has plenty of wiggle room for bathroom breaks, changing clothes, and any quick stops that are needed.

I'm ready as usual, overpacked, for whatever the weather gods throw my way. All I can do now is let the wind blow and follow the recipe.

Four Maniacs

Finally we got some sunshine and things started melting! It's not warm, but 40 degrees above zero beats 13 below!

I'm feeling good. The training is going reasonably well now. Despite the recent lack of sugar and grains in my diet I've had plenty of energy and I don't feel bad at all doing 2-3 hours of workouts a day. I happen to be very inspired right now...by my upcoming new age group and by all the records that were set at Across the Years this year.

This morning I watched this interview of Joe Fejes right after the 6 Day race finish. I love his racing and training strategies. But the classic Joe Fejes statement comes right in the middle of the video.

"For some reason, I seem to be a decent multiday runner. So go figure..."

Decent.

It shows his humility, which is always refreshing in elite runners, and listening to him, you know this guy's head and heart are in the right place, and I wish him the best of luck this summer in Alaska. He's a true champion and a nice guy.

Today it was hill workout day, and I needed a little more of a challenge than I've been doing lately. I've stuck to short little hill repeats or a quick 10 mile out and back on Centennial Drive. I'm looking forward to getting up on the Rock Repeats soon, but I'm not quite ready and I don't want to trash my legs the first time I go. I opted for something in-between with a little more vertical today.

The view going up is of Horsetooth Rock and Longs Peak, but you could only see a little of Longs due to cloud cover.

Maniac Hill is known locally among cyclists and runners for it's hill training merits, it's close to town but has a good steady steep climb. I chose north Maniac today, starting from Maxwell Trail parking area behind Hughes Stadium.

I ran four repeats, from the starting line of the Horsetooth Half Marathon, to the top of Maniac Hill, and back. It gave me roughly 10.8 miles and it took 2 hours. Not sure of the vertical total but I think it's about 500 feet per hill from bottom to top, so roughly 2000 feet of climb and the same of descent. I didn't push hard, I just climbed and descended, very relaxed. Just getting the legs used to going up and down.

The whole way up, the shoulder was mostly covered with slush when I started, but by the time I finished things were in a good thaw and it was just wet. At the top of the hill it was clear and the shoulder was runnable. Fortunately all the motorists were nice today, no one tried to run me off the road or splash me with slush.

I hope the weather continues like this, looks like we could have a nice day for a 30 miler later this week.

Swinging from the Treetops...

I slept in this morning, until about 6:45. First thing I did was check into the Across the Years (ATY) 6 day race to see how things were going between Joe Fejes and Yiannis Kouros.

The two running gods have been running within single digit miles of each other almost the entire time. Kouros is the current 6 day world record holder from Greece, and I've seen him at several races before. He's getting older, at age 57 now, but in ultras, that's a good thing.

Joe Fejes, on the other hand, is from Georgia (U.S.) and has been tearing it up on the roads for the past couple of years. He set the 72 hour record last year at ATY and that's where I first met him. He talked with me on a few laps but he was kind enough to speak with me on the phone weeks after the race to give me some 24 hour pointers, and has sent me encouraging messages at and between various events over the past year. He's my hero, basically. I never really had a running hero before but he is now it.

I was waiting for a text from Wheaties Boy this morning as we were supposed to run sometime around 9 am, which coincided with the finish of the race at ATY, so when he texted me and said he was running late, it was a lucky break. I got to see Joe break the American record and go on to win with 555.35 miles over the 6 day race.

Joe is 48 years old so that means his best years in the multiday events are still ahead of him. There are no limits, he could be swinging from the treetops...

Awesome...

The 6 day race is something I've been wanting to do, in the future, but I need to get my goals out of the way for shorter distances first. Maybe in 5 years or so. The longest run I've ever done was my Badwater road double crossing which was 270 miles over 5 days, and I loved staying out there, you get so zoned out into that rhythm of moving forward.

I got another text from Wheaties Boy and I headed out the door to run to the church parking lot where we meet. I got a couple of miles in to warm up, and ended up with 8 total. We ran about 6 miles together and I felt pretty damn good. Our first run in about 6 months! We should start meeting regularly again soon, which always helps me.

Yesterday I ran 14+ and threw a little fartlek in, just to push the pace without making it too intense. Tomorrow is an easy day with weights and then Sunday I run an 8K at Edora Park early in the morning with the running club, and it's supposed to be super cold!

This afternoon I sat in the hot tub, looking at the reflection of the treetops. I've made it to day 2 of the weight loss attempt, which is good. I haven't been hungry either. There's only a narrow range of foods I will eat for the next couple of weeks before I start adding my normal foods back. Normal healthy foods. The kind I used to eat before I got all stressed out with my old job.

And no alcohol whatsoever, either, for these two weeks. After that I'll let myself have a beer, or a glass of wine, once a week. This is more about re-establishing habits than anything. I find it takes about two weeks to get into a routine. I just needed to kick the old, bad habits.

So I can turn 50, jump on my pogo stick, swing from the treetops, and live like Sally O'Malley.